Prominent environmentalists have urged President John Dramanni Mahama to reevaluate the ban on burning excavators used for illicit mining, or galamsey as they are known locally.
They said that the direct order to seize the excavators used by illegal miners without making space for burning them in hazardous conditions was insufficiently deterring and might delay attempts to combat the threat.
Concerns were voiced by Dr. Hugh Brown, the CEO of the Forestry Commission; Dr. Kenneth Ashigbey, the Convener of the Media Coalition against Galamsey; and Daryl Bosu of A Rocha Ghana, an environmental civil society organization (CSO).
In separate interviews with the media, they emphasized that burning excavators would send a clear message that illegal miners’ actions would not be tolerated, thereby stopping the impunity with which they were ruining the nation’s land, forest, and water supplies.
Since the Forestry Commission lacked the resources to remove all of the excavators that were seized from forest reserves right away, they claimed that the best course of action at the moment was to employ a dual strategy that involved burning and seizing the machines.
The background
In light of President Mahama’s order to confiscate excavators instead of burning them, the media addressed the activists.
The President signaled his intention to take on illegal mining head-on when he took office on January 7 of this year.
He then specifically instructed the ministers of Environment, Science, and Technology (MEST), Dr. Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, and Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, as well as associated ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) to collaborate closely in order to address the environmental crime in a decisive manner.
Additionally, the President directed the Forestry Commission’s Rapid Response Team (RRT) and security personnel to confiscate rather than burn the excavators used for galamsey.
When the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG) leadership paid him a courtesy call at the seat of government on Friday, February 21, 2025, he made the command public.
In order to create a lasting strategy for combating galamsey, the President said, “I have instructed them not to burn the excavators; they should confiscate them.”
The Lands Minister announced at a press conference on Wednesday that at least 60 galamsey-using excavators in forest reserves had been seized.
Opposition viewpoint
According to Dr. Ashigbey, the new rule prohibiting the burning of excavators would allow criminal elements to employ a variety of tactics to reclaim their equipment and carry on causing environmental damage.
Since an excavator may cost up to $200,000, illegal miners will be afraid to carry on with their operations if they know they could lose that much if the equipment is burned.
“The best course of action is to move the excavators out if at all possible, but if that is not feasible, it should be burned,” he stated.
He added that the galamsey conflict was now a war situation that required brutal treatment since excavators had turned into weapons of mass destruction of the environment.
Limit the importation of excavators
In order to combat the threat of illegal mining, Dr. Ashigbey also urged the government to limit the importation and use of excavators within the nation.
He claimed that in order to guarantee that all equipment was tracked using an efficient method, the previous government’s policy on the importation and use of excavators needed to be reviewed and strengthened.
“A policy that governs the importation and rental of excavators ought to be in place.
“Prosecutors must be used as a source of evidence,” he continued.
Let’s burn
Mr Bosu, who is the Deputy National Director of A Rocha Ghana, stressed that the burning of excavators was the best approach “to send a strong signal to illegal miners to stay away from our forest reserves and waterbodies”.
“Our experience on the field has shown that when excavators are burnt, it is a big blow to the illegal miners because you are taking away something precious to them; and they do not want to go back. It is the most significant punitive measure for illegal miners,” he stressed.
Mr Bosu said inasmuch as the order of the President was within the mining laws, it came with dire consequences.
For instance, he said, it was an opportunity for politically-connected persons to go behind the scene to take their excavators back and go back to perpetrate their illegal acts of destroying the environment.
“In the previous administration, they said the seized excavators will be put to other uses, but they found their way back to the mining sites; so there is no guarantee that there will be accountability for these excavators if they are not burnt,” he said.
The A Rocha Deputy Director further said that the process of confiscating the excavators and transporting them to designated locations for storage would be costly to the Forestry Commission, and by extension, the state.
“If excavators are seized and the operation team is unable to move them out of the sites immediately, it means that there must be effective policing until they are taken away.
This also gives room for people who are politically connected to find a way around it,” he said.
Accountability
Mr Bosu said much as the President’s directive was to be respected, the government needed to amply demonstrate that there was a watertight system to ensure that every seized excavator was accounted for.
“If the President wants to go the way of the law to say that excavators should not be burnt, the responsibility is for the government to demonstrate how the equipment would be accounted for so that all of us can keep an eye on them and ask the necessary accountability questions,” he said.
Engagement
Meanwhile, Dr Brown said from the deterrence point of view, the burning of excavators was the ideal approach to adopt as “it put the fear of God in illegal miners”.
He, however, added that following the directive by the President not to burn excavators, the commission would engage the relevant authorities behind the scene on the way forward.
Speaking to whether the Forestry Commission had the capacity to protect excavators seized in the forest reserves, he said “we have offices across our forest districts where we can keep the excavators”.
He further stated that there were police depots and Forestry Commission depots that could host some of the seized excavators.
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